Social Insurance Bank

The oldest social security institution in the Netherlands and employer of 3,200 people, Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB), recently moved its PGB-offices to Utrecht. The six floors of the new headquarters received a make-over with a practical, durable and good-looking combination of carpet tiles and LVT, both provided by IVC.

Location: Utrecht (NL)

Sector: Corporate & office

Product Category: Carpet tiles, Luxury vinyl tiles

SVB pioneers carpet tiles in the Benelux

The project was completed at lightning speed: in October SVB announced its move, halfway through November the design for the new building’s interior was approved and by April everything was finished. 5300m² of carpet tiles and 2500m² of LVT were installed in a span of four-months, together with wall panelling, bespoke furniture and other interior finishes. The result – a stylish combination of carpet tiles designed by interior designer Heidi Kroon and LVT floors, with a different accent colour on each floor – is testament to the skills of Heidi Kroon, fit-out company Boerhof NV and IVC.

A purpose for each floor type

The new SVB headquarters consists of six floors, each with a different accent colour: pink, yellow, orange, red, purple and green. Central to each floor are concentration areas - where people can seclude themselves if they need to focus - meeting rooms and sitting areas for informal conversations. The space close to the windows is reserved for the individual work stations, so that employees can enjoy the view and get a daily dose of sunlight.

To optimize this division, Heidi Kroon opted for carpet tiles in the central zone and used LVT to create walkways around the office: “We went for a modular design, based on the architectural lines of the building. This allowed us to finish the project quickly, and opens possibilities to recombine the elements into other configurations at a later stage.”

Customisation at a low cost

Why did SVB and Heidi Kroon opted for carpet tiles? “Carpet adds a sense of warmth and comfort, as well as being quite durable,” Heidi explains. “The tool on mother company Mohawk’s website allowed us to design custom carpet tiles, both in terms of colour and texture, giving us enormous freedom. Usually, to get this level of creative liberty, you need to contact a carpet specialist that doesn’t have standard collections, and the cost would be much higher. Add to that the excellent price/quality ratio of IVC carpet tiles, and it really was a no-brainer for us.

Glue vs underlay

The carpet tiles were not stuck-down as is usual, but installed with IVC FlexLock. “We needed to install the floor in such a way that the computer network cables underneath could still be accessed. Therefore, using adhesive was out of the question,” Kristel Leerkes-Boerhof, Director of Boerhof Projectinrichters, explains. “IVC advised us to use the FlexLock underlay as that way, the carpet tiles could still be lifted and put back if necessary. As an added bonus, the thickness of the underlay put the carpet tiles and LVT at the same level, so we didn’t need to use profiles to account for a height difference, resulting in a smoother finish.”